First time in Norfolk/Virginia Beach (Richmond, Hampton: oceanfront, neighborhood, college)

[sdurbanite]

Hello fellow forumers,

Just looking for some suggestions on what to see and do during my short stay in the Hampton Roads area next week. I'm flying into Baltimore this weekend and road tripping thru Richmond and Williamsburg before flying out off Norfolk the following weekend. As the title says, this will be my first visit to the area.

From research that I've done, places that interest me include Granby Street, the Ghent neighborhood, Chrysler Museum, Virginia Beach Boardwalk and possibly the Botanic Garden. Is the Battleship Wisconsin something I shouldn't miss? i live in San Diego where we have the Midway Aircraft Museum, which is pretty cool.

Any restaurant recommendations? Since I'm travelling solo, I'm only interested in casual dining places. Opinons on Waterman's Surfside Grill, 456 Fish or No Frill Bar and Grill? I'll be heading to Doumar's for a waffle cone ice cream since that's where it was first created.

Can someone tell me what area of the Virginia Beach Boardwalk is liveliest and best to visit? I'm guessing it won't be very crowded since it's not officially summer yet. Nicest stretch of beach?

I look forward to your responses.

[Babe_Ruth]

Originally Posted by sdurbanite

As the title says, this will be my first visit to the area.

From research that I've done, places that interest me include Granby Street, the Ghent neighborhood, Chrysler Museum, Virginia Beach Boardwalk and possibly the Botanic Garden. Is the Battleship Wisconsin something I shouldn't miss? i live in San Diego where we have the Midway Aircraft Museum, which is pretty cool.
I'll be heading to Doumar's for a waffle cone ice cream since that's where it was first created.

Can someone tell me what area of the Virginia Beach Boardwalk is liveliest and best to visit? I'm guessing it won't be very crowded since it's not officially summer yet. Nicest stretch of beach?

I look forward to your responses.

SD, yeah..Doumars is cool nostalgia. One of the nice things about touring Norfolk is that it's downtown is compact. Ghent, Doumars, Nauticus, etc are all very close together..
As far as the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, u can see most of the tourist stuff between 1st & 40th streets. It's a nice walk where u can stop in the tourist traps & also have the local restaurants & bars. My experience, I think VA Beach and San Diego have a lot of cultural similarities. Large military presence, beaches, large stretches of surburb, etc.

Let us know how your trip thru VA goes.. and if you like the Southeastern humidity.. peace.

[spencer114]

I really like taking guests to Fort Monroe in Hampton. I just do a 20 minute drive-by on our way to Norfolk or to the ocean. It’s the last exit off of the interstate before the Hampton Toads Bridge Tunnel. The fort is old
and beautiful.

I really like old town Portsmouth too. You can take a ferry from downtown Norfolk. It’s a quick trip (maybe 15 minutes across the harbor?) and affords nice views of downtown and a small shipyard/dry dock area on the Elizabeth River. Portsmouth is really pretty. It’s like Charleston or Savannah without the tourism infrastructure.
I’d skip the Wisconsin. You’ll see it, it’s really hard to miss. The Freemason district is pretty too.

Ghent, Freemason, Gramby, Downtown, old towne Portsmouth...these areas are contiguous and really close together.

I personally wouldn't go to the botanical gardens. They are very nice but given your limited time in the area, I don’t think it’s work the effort/time it takes to go there. It isn’t near anything else you’ll be visiting (it’s close to the airport, if your flight is delayed, swing by).

[dg628]

Originally Posted by Babe_Ruth

SD, yeah..Doumars is cool nostalgia. One of the nice things about touring Norfolk is that it's downtown is compact. Ghent, Doumars, Nauticus, etc are all very close together..
As far as the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, u can see most of the tourist stuff between 1st & 40th streets. It's a nice walk where u can stop in the tourist traps & also have the local restaurants & bars. My experience, I think VA Beach and San Diego have a lot of cultural similarities. Large military presence, beaches, large stretches of surburb, etc.

Let us know how your trip thru VA goes.. and if you like the Southeastern humidity.. peace.

As someone who just moved to San Diego from Norfolk absolutely not. San Diego is a completely different feel than Virginia Beach.

[lovnova]

Originally Posted by sdurbanite

Hello fellow forumers,

Just looking for some suggestions on what to see and do during my short stay in the Hampton Roads area next week. I'm flying into Baltimore this weekend and road tripping thru Richmond and Williamsburg before flying out off Norfolk the following weekend. As the title says, this will be my first visit to the area.

From research that I've done, places that interest me include Granby Street, the Ghent neighborhood, Chrysler Museum, Virginia Beach Boardwalk and possibly the Botanic Garden. Is the Battleship Wisconsin something I shouldn't miss? i live in San Diego where we have the Midway Aircraft Museum, which is pretty cool.

Any restaurant recommendations? Since I'm travelling solo, I'm only interested in casual dining places. Opinons on Waterman's Surfside Grill, 456 Fish or No Frill Bar and Grill? I'll be heading to Doumar's for a waffle cone ice cream since that's where it was first created.

Can someone tell me what area of the Virginia Beach Boardwalk is liveliest and best to visit? I'm guessing it won't be very crowded since it's not officially summer yet. Nicest stretch of beach?

I look forward to your responses.

A lot of great suggestions here from several posters!

You may want to visit some travel forums to get travel information from local experts and other travelers. For example try trip - adviser

[Lockdev]

Originally Posted by dg628

As someone who just moved to San Diego from Norfolk absolutely not. San Diego is a completely different feel than Virginia Beach.

Agree 100%.

Sure, both have a strong Navy presence and beaches, but that's where the similarities end.

The weather, vibe, and feel are completely different.

[turkeydance]

our opinion...
see what you can only see in Norfolk.

SD has all the Navy. old quote:
Atlantic Fleet sees the World.
Pacific Fleet sees the Sea.

how about...
https://www.marinersmuseum.org

[Babe_Ruth]

Originally Posted by Lockdev

Agree 100%.

Sure, both have a strong Navy presence and beaches, but that's where the similarities end..vibe..completely different.

Lock, I've spent a lot of time in both San Diego and Virginia Beach. I cited specific cultural similarities.. im curious what is the significantly different vibe (?) That's completely nebulous.. elaborate (?)
Having a Beach culture & military culture are the most definitive aspects of VA Beach culture. You're making it seem like a superficial factor (?)
Half of VA Beach was once stationed in San Diego.. c'mon. It's literally the same people just switching location of their base housing.. /peace

[sdurbanite]

Originally Posted by Babe_Ruth

SD, yeah..Doumars is cool nostalgia. One of the nice things about touring Norfolk is that it's downtown is compact. Ghent, Doumars, Nauticus, etc are all very close together..
As far as the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, u can see most of the tourist stuff between 1st & 40th streets. It's a nice walk where u can stop in the tourist traps & also have the local restaurants & bars. My experience, I think VA Beach and San Diego have a lot of cultural similarities. Large military presence, beaches, large stretches of surburb, etc.

Let us know how your trip thru VA goes.. and if you like the Southeastern humidity.. peace.

Good to know that Norfolk is compact and that I won't spend too much time driving between places. It also looks like the VA Beach pier is a good place to experience the boardwalk. But I can't believe there's a charge to walk on the pier. And I'll definitely post a trip report when I get back.

Originally Posted by spencer114

I really like taking guests to Fort Monroe in Hampton. I just do a 20 minute drive-by on our way to Norfolk or to the ocean. It’s the last exit off of the interstate before the Hampton Toads Bridge Tunnel. The fort is old
and beautiful.

I really like old town Portsmouth too. You can take a ferry from downtown Norfolk. It’s a quick trip (maybe 15 minutes across the harbor?) and affords nice views of downtown and a small shipyard/dry dock area on the Elizabeth River. Portsmouth is really pretty. It’s like Charleston or Savannah without the tourism infrastructure.
I’d skip the Wisconsin. You’ll see it, it’s really hard to miss. The Freemason district is pretty too.

Ghent, Freemason, Gramby, Downtown, old towne Portsmouth...these areas are contiguous and really close together.

I personally wouldn't go to the botanical gardens. They are very nice but given your limited time in the area, I don’t think it’s work the effort/time it takes to go there. It isn’t near anything else you’ll be visiting (it’s close to the airport, if your flight is delayed, swing by).

Good stuff here. You mentioned many places that I didn't read about online. I'll add Fort Monroe, the Freemason District and Portsmouth to my list.

Originally Posted by dg628

As someone who just moved to San Diego from Norfolk absolutely not. San Diego is a completely different feel than Virginia Beach.

I'm sure I'll have an opinion after my visit.

Originally Posted by lovnova

A lot of great suggestions here from several posters!

You may want to visit some travel forums to get travel information from local experts and other travelers. For example try trip - adviser

I did check Tripadvisor for both VA Beach and Norfolk but the recommendations were pretty random. I always get better advice from forumers here.

Originally Posted by turkeydance

our opinion...
see what you can only see in Norfolk.

SD has all the Navy. old quote:
Atlantic Fleet sees the World.
Pacific Fleet sees the Sea.

how about...
https://www.marinersmuseum.org

Thanks.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by sdurbanite

Hello fellow forumers,

Just looking for some suggestions on what to see and do during my short stay in the Hampton Roads area next week. I'm flying into Baltimore this weekend and road tripping thru Richmond and Williamsburg before flying out off Norfolk the following weekend. As the title says, this will be my first visit to the area.

From research that I've done, places that interest me include Granby Street, the Ghent neighborhood, Chrysler Museum, Virginia Beach Boardwalk and possibly the Botanic Garden. Is the Battleship Wisconsin something I shouldn't miss? i live in San Diego where we have the Midway Aircraft Museum, which is pretty cool.

Any restaurant recommendations? Since I'm travelling solo, I'm only interested in casual dining places. Opinons on Waterman's Surfside Grill, 456 Fish or No Frill Bar and Grill? I'll be heading to Doumar's for a waffle cone ice cream since that's where it was first created.

Can someone tell me what area of the Virginia Beach Boardwalk is liveliest and best to visit? I'm guessing it won't be very crowded since it's not officially summer yet. Nicest stretch of beach?

I look forward to your responses.

Doumar's is cool. A lot of cities have something similar to Doumar's and I'll usually check out those places when I'm in a city. Doumar's, like a lot of old diners, has a history as interesting if not more so. You should have been around when Doumar passed. Nice how they honored his memory.

The Boardwalk was busy not that long ago because of college week. This year they had something different which brought in people from all over and wasn't just limited to the college crowd. Something In The Water. Huge concert. It will be interesting to see what happens next year. It doesn't have to be summer you don't always get spring here so if the weather is nice people will be out there anyway.

Chrysler is free. Small, if you ask me, but it is interesting worth going at least once a month give them time to change out some of the major exhibits.

I don't know how the Wisconsin compares to other battleships. It was cool for what it is worth. But if you're tall you're crouching down a lot checking out the living quarters. I was afraid I'd bump my head and knock myself out, so I took my time seeing it.

Check out MacArthur. It is right across from the mall and it is free. If you're looking for war stuff to do may as well check it out if you're in the neighborhood. I've never been in there myself, usually because I'm going to the mall or the library, but I've heard its good.